Disney-comics digest #231.

Don Rosa 72260.2635 at CompuServe.COM
Fri Feb 4 05:37:47 CET 1994


CHARLES ELLIS:
	I almost thought your post was serious until I kept reading
through the list of loutish collectibles that I could someday be
involved in. No, I was just curious if there WERE any endeavors which a
freelance writer or artist could be involved in, in which he's paid
like a want-ads handyman rather than the creator of the work, other
than when involved with Disney; I feel like such an idiot so often that
I continue to do this work while seeing other comic people all around
me getting wealthy off sales that are a fraction of ours with Disney
comics. And as I said, I'd like to know if there are more unfairly
treated "creators" anywhere so I won't feel so alone. But I always keep
in mind that if I did the same stories I do now with the same art, the
same gags, the same plots, the same everything, but NOT Uncle $crooge
and Donald Duck, no one would buy the stuff. That still doesn't make
Disney's policies fair, but I continue to try to explain my predicament
to myself.
	Anyway, I suspect you know this, but I would not leave the work
I do, regardless. Why else would I put up with this $#@%& if I didn't
love these characters. But I don't love Disney, and therefore I could
never "leave Disney" (as you said) since I don't work for Disney.
	And you know that I already am the "star" of a series of albums
in Germany, and so far a mini-series of comics and two albums in
America; but there are no royalties paid for reprints of my work in any
of these collections -- that's how it is with Disney. Anyone who obtains
a Disney license could produce any amount of plates and figurines and
T-shirts and comics and lithographs and posters and gum cards and
anything else based on my work, and they'd never be required to pay me
a penny. They wouldn't even need to inform me of the product. That's
the way it would be for any writer/artist of Disney material.
	I'm sure I've spelled this out too often on here, but I gather
there are new lurkers here all the time, and I constantly hear from
people who assume that Disney pays royalties and returns artwork like
every other publisher in the world. It's uncomfortable having many
people thinking I'm some sort of wealthy superstar when that's far from
the case.




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